My vocation?
Gift and mystery! Every new life is a gift of
God: the newborn baby inspires feelings of tender affection in
his parents; the flower that opens its petals for the
first time gives this sensation of new life when it
surrenders its virginal perfume. And so call of God to
be his vicar among men and women is something free
and undeserved. But it is also mysterious: why does the
Lord insist on choosing such weak friends who are so
full of misery? It is a reality that I have
perceived even more in the last years along the way.

A Family of Baptist Missionaries in FranceI was born
in a Baptist family in Los Angeles on November 24,
1976. I am the last of three children. My parents
had been missionaries with the Jehovah’s Witnesses in New York
and in the Ivory Coast. After discovering Christ’s personal love,
they converted to the Baptist faith, and got ready for
a new mission: France! They were out to convert all
of France’s Catholics and pagans to the Baptist faith.

Because of
this background, I had my first airplane ride at the
age of two. We settled in Biarritz in the south
of France, and then in Perpignan. After eight years of
hard work in the arid French soil of faith, my
dad had a new St. Paul moment. His eyes were
opened and he decided to return to the Catholic faith
(I say return because he had been Catholic until the
age of 17).

My family decided to trust in his
intuitions, and we solemnly entered the Catholic Church. In a
ceremony presided over by the bishop, my dad read the
profession of faith of Paul VI; my mother and older

brother were confirmed, while my sister and I were baptized.

And
so my childhood unfolded, very happily and with plenty of
tourism. We ended up travelling all of France: from the
Eiffel Tower to the castles on the Loire to the
sand of Arles and the papal residence of Avignon. We
also travelled in other countries: a lot of the United
States, the brave shores of Spain, Rome, Luxembourg, Germany.

My SecretWhen I was twelve, the idea of the vocation occurred
to me for the first time. I was coming back
from the tennis courts where Jean Philippe, my brother, had
given me a tennis “lesson” (6-0, 6-0). Suddenly, this thought
came to mind: “Before I would have wanted to be
a pastor like dad, but not anymore. Why not be
a priest? I would have to give up getting married…
but apart from that, it would be fine.” I was
filled with immense joy and continued on my way home.

I
was very jealous about my vocation: it was “my secret.”
Perhaps it was really because of shame, because it was
inconceivable for me to put it in the formulas of
the school. Several times it happened that my dad, proud
of my intention, told his friends: “Daniel wants to be
a priest.” And I responded: “It’s not true. I want
to be a doctor.”

When we were Baptists, we had gotten
used to having very little social life in non-Baptist circles.
This helped us to form deep family ties. And so,
every night after dinner, we got together in the living
room and read novels or other stories (like Lord of
the Rings). We also frequently played table games, like Bible
Trivia or Monopoly, etc.

The Magazine ArticleOne day I was
in my room with my brothers, with one of these
games. Dad arrived with a magazine in his hand, and
showed me an article. “Daniel, look what I found.” “Sure,
Dad, I’ll look at it later.” And I stuck the
magazine in a desk drawer. The next day, I appeared
in my dad’s room because I wanted to play Pirates
on his computer and he asked me, “Daniel, did you
read what I gave you yesterday?” “I forgot,” I said.
On the one hand I understood that I wasn’t going
to be able to play, and on the other, I
had to listen to the sermon: “I’m not going to
do anything for you anymore.” No matter how much I
excused myself, I couldn’t satisfy him. There was no other
remedy than to leave the room, read the article, and
talk about it the next day, telling him that I
liked it.

What was the article about? It was about
a new religious congregation, the Legionaries of Christ, who were
missionaries and who were dedicated to conquering the world for
Christ. They were dressed in their clerics and Pope John
Paul II had just ordained 60 of them to the
priesthood. My dad had liked it, and since he was
concerned about my future, he thought it would be a
good place for me. But I was sincere with him.
I told him: “It’s hard to get an idea about
them just from one article.” It was March of 1991.

Not long after, I was able to travel to Valencia,
Spain, during the Sacred Triduum to visit the apostolic school
with its 150 students. I loved it: a healthy family
atmosphere, very friendly and affable boys, and they played sports
every day and prayed fervently in the chapel. They ate
well and had a good team spirit. I was 14,
and the idea of going to Spain to study was
attractive to me, since I didn’t want to be treated
like a child at home anymore with all the norms
and restrictions.

The next week, on my way back to Perpignan,
a Legionary passed by my house. It was Father Pierre
Gouraud. “Daniel, did you like the seminary?” “Yes, but I
don’t know if it is my vocation to be a
Legionary,” I answered. “Well,” he said, “why don’t you give
it a try? Study there for a year and then
decide.” I loved the idea and my parents were in
agreement.

Sixteen Enriching Years Thus began a stage of 16
years of preparation to be a priest—a stage with many
“scales,” some more exciting than others. For me, the apostolic
school was a paradise where I was able to grow
in all areas, from studies to sports to human and
spiritual formation. The atmosphere of great trust with the directors
helped me to open up and launch myself and gain
confidence in myself: there was a great spirit of constant
improvement through campaigns, contests, prizes, motivations, etc. The step to
the novitiate in Salamanca made me grow in the spirit
of community and family: I remember vacations in Cantabria, Spain,
hiking in the mountains, playing soccer in the town field
or volleyball in the parks. It was also the moment
to develop this personal experience with the Lord in adoration
and in meditation on Christian spirituality. My philosophical and theological
formation in Rome, close to the Pope, was the necessary
scale to be filled with the contents that I would
later have to preach.

I can’t conclude this testimony without a
word about the six years of pastoral work that we
call apostolic practices. This was also a gift of God:
Mexico, Brazil, France. I worked in the formation of adolescents.
The experience of being an instrument so that the Lord
could work and conquer so many young souls is very
enriching. I made a lot of friends: I have followed
each one along his path (some are now companions in
the Legion). I am sure that if we see each
other again, it would be an exciting moment. But above
all, it encourages me to think that they have become
true friends of Christ, who calls each one of us
to follow him – that’s the great gift and the
great mystery – and to take up their own cross
to get to heaven. And I say cross, because the
path always has difficult moments, but he is always there,
the Friend who never fails.

Father Daniel Guindon was born in
Los Angeles, California (USA) on November 24, 1976. His father
is American and his mother is Canadian; there are three
children in the family and he is the youngest. He
was baptized into the Catholic Church at the age of
10 in the city and diocese of Perpignan, in the
southeast of France. When he was 15, he entered the
apostolic school of the Legion of Christ in Moncada, Spain.
He has worked as an academic guide in the apostolic
school of León (Mexico) and as a guide of youth
and adolescents in Lille and Rennes (France). He did his
philosophical studies in the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum of Rome.
He is currently studying his license in dogmatic theology in
Rome.